Suds answer the "Call" go to 3-0!

Schlitz (3) vs Last Call
Thursday June 5th
Dedham 7:10pm

6-3 Win.



Good game last night in Dedham. First look at the Last Call, who were really the split up and reformed Generals… with better players. Clearly these are a new group of Generals. They added several good skaters, and really it was to the Gold benefit that the game was early, and the Call started the game with only 1 or 2 subs. They had 2 or 3 more guys filter in during the first period.
Thankfully, it looks like the new talent is like us… old. They were pretty spent after playing the majority of the 1st without a break. There was plenty of cherry picking from early on.
The game started on time… with the cheery news from the Old guy at the rink that the “ice is ready. You guys are all set” We asked if he was going to make ice after the figure skating class that was out there before us. Capt. George was busy telling stories about how he broke his foot once in a groove on the ice…after a figureskating practice. Great. But the Old Dude held firm. “Eh..there was only a couple 6 year olds out there. The boss says no.”
Uh..ok. So needless to say… the ice was lumpy and slow. Not that we have any speed skaters… you know what I mean. But that didn’t sitifle the optimism of the Schlitz… winners of the first two games of the season and sporting a pretty niffty lineup for the evening.

The crew broke down like this.
Badass Brian in Net
Ministry of Defense: Capt George and “Laserbeam” Valenti backed up by Greg “Freight Train” James, and Jeff.
Oh-Fence: SW Bell, Chris, and Dr. Jasse backed by Sully, Mark Reynolds and Nelson “I love wearing Yellow” Sharfman. K.Park was a no-show.

Now as far as a 10 players and a keep… what say you reader? You’d take that group against just about anyone…(with the exception of Route138Autobody)…right? I thought so. The Gold felt good about whatever we were going to face.

Turns out during warmups that these guys are the Generals, with an upgrade and that they were shorthanded the confidence was there strong. The game got underway and we “felt each other out” for a while. Stop it Greg… I know what you’re thinking. It was clear that with some work we were going to get plenty of chances. Still the play went back and forth and there was no score for the first 6-7 minutes. Just under the 10min mark the Suds finally got it toghether and got something going.

Mike Jasse picked up the puck up at center ice on his side. Joined by Jeff he pressed forward over the blue line, drawing some defensive attention. He slipped the puck back to Jeff high in the center. Jeff shot it toward the net where brother Chris was waiting to jam home the first goal of the game.
The guys from the Call were not going to go quietly however. They struck back with a goal of their own only a minute and a half later. They were clearly pressing to stay with us but the game was tight. As the period wore away the Suds gained more chances and felt the momentum a bit. The Gold showed grit and tried to cycle the offesive zone and kept getting chances. Larry, doing a lot of work in the zone, was able to feed Marc Valenti at the left point. Marc let go a trademark “Laserbeam” and put the Gold up on top again. Before the period ended the Gold scored again after a series of nice passes in the zone but it was waved off due to a weak “interference” call in the crease.
The Call had gained a bench and the game was close in the second with both teams grinding for chances. Brian Carey made some quality stops, providing some nice work between the pipes.
Regardless, the Call would not fade away. They scored again on a nice play to tie the game up again at 2. The second period ground away with the Suds not as confident as the early part of the game, but nonetheless determined to make it happen. Jim Sullivan was able to break through with a wicked shot from the face off dot that found its way home. Credit Reynolds and Valenti on the assists, doing the grind to keep it in. Sullys shot was wild, as he was off balance and kind of whipped through the shot sprawling on the ice as it shot into the net. It was a huge goal.
That’s how it would go into the third. Suds up 3-2. More grinding to start the third and the Suds were on the move again. The fourth and critical goal would come from The Cagey Vet Nelson on a cool play. The Call was forcing the play in our own end, Mark Reynolds got a good take away and fed Nelson just outside the line, with a step or two on the defender in the high slot. Nelson was off. A rumbling tumblin breakaway, he stayed just ahead of the D pumping away. The keeper made his move and Nelson lifted a wrister smartly into the upper (left?) part of the net. 4-2 suds and the Call was fading but not giving up.

The third period wore on with more good action. Despite a fishy call on Larry, that sent him to the box, the Suds wouldn't be held down. On a breakup and outlet from George and Valenti, Sully sprung lose for a quick rush and fired one into the net for the 5-2 lead, shorthanded. That was a killer. I think this is how this went... someone correct me if I have the goals mixed up please.

The Call stayed resilliant. They managed another round of pressure and scored thier third with still plenty of time remaining (about 5 minutes). The Gold didn't slip a bit. In fact they saved another sweet one for last.

This play started at the left dot in our end in front of Brian. Jeff called out "Nelson's side" before the faceoff. Sully won the drop clean and sent it back to Jeff. He turned and fired a slapper around the boards behind Brian over to Nelson's side. The reliable Vet was there to meet the puck and poke it past the defender and the race was on. Nelson got it up to Jasse as they went into the Zone, Jasse got it back to Sully in front, who closed the deal with another great shot, giving him the hat-trick and finally puting this one to bed.

A really good game for the Suds who really worked well together. Kudos all around for the guys in Gold who now have a 3-0 record to start off the summer.

Nice job everyone.
Game Stars
3rd Star: THE Man Nelson Sharfman for putting home an awesome breakaway. He added the assist on Sully's third, and played like he always does. Hard and effectively. Dude is a machine.

2nd Star: Defenseman Marc Valenti. A crushing slapper for a critical goal and two timely assists helped out the team greatly. Marc covered a lot of ice offensively and defensively and was clearly a force all night long.

1st Star: Jim Sullivan. A natural Hat-trick with a couple of eye poppers for shots. Sully continues to impress this season with 4 goals already and last night's "trick" was killer. Great work.

Honorable Mention 1: Dr. Jasse with some nice work and a pair of helpers.


Honorable Mention 2: Mark Renyolds with a pair of his own. Mark is showing clear dominace in the Rookie of the Year catagory.. in fact he leads all scoring with 6pts in 3 games. (Sully's right behind him with his 4 goals in 3 gms.)


Honorable Mention 3: Mike Campbell who must have been very lonely last night as he called the blogger from a sportsbar in Long Beach California to check in on our result. He must not have had too many friends while the b-ball game was on...no?


Great work everyone. Don't forget Schlidaveurtime next tuesday (6/10) @ 10:20pm! Email your date of birth to Kilroy today!